Armin Reindl
LightNews LightNews
banner
arminreindl.bsky.social
Armin Reindl
@arminreindl.bsky.social
3.4K followers 400 following 440 posts
Artist, crocodile enthusiast, wikipedia editor

tags: #SciArt
Posts Replies Media Videos
arminreindl.bsky.social
Rest in Peace Philippe Taquet.
Many people will known him from his work with dinosaurs, for me tho his most iconic taxon is Sarcosuchus.
Image via the MNHM
A photograph of Philippe Taquet and France de Lapparent de Broin with the fossil remains of Sarcosuchus at the MNHM
November 17, 2025 at 9:25 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 8:56 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 8:34 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
It may not be Dezember yet but the Christmas season celebrations in Austria have started
A picture of a Krampus surrounded by red smoke Two women dressed as dark angels surrounded by red smoke A picture of a Krampus surrounded by red smoke and fire A picture of a Krampus surrounded by red smoke
November 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
So a week ago someone on discord put the Prehistoric Planet Ice Age trailer to the main theme of WWB
Which inspired me to do a little experiment
November 14, 2025 at 9:10 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Lots of stuff going on so I'll keep #Croctober Day 30 a simple one
Here's a photo I took myself of the 4 meter Tomistoma male that was kept at the Vienna Aquarium until not too long ago
A photo of a large Tomistoma male swimming in a pool in the vienna aquarium. Two fish swim above its tail, plants enter the photo from the edges of the image.
October 30, 2025 at 10:22 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Day 29 of #Croctober has given us another newcommer: Olkasuchus walasto, a new aetosaur from the Argentinian Los Colorados Formation
doi.org/10.1080/0891...
Diagram showing the preserved portions of Olkasuchus. Image 1 shows preserved parts of teh spine, hips and limbs in red, image 2 highlights the known preserved parts of the body armor. Images 3 and 4 show the actual fossil material.
October 29, 2025 at 9:37 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Day 28 of #Croctober, we're racing towards the finish line
This is one of my favourite images of Dakosaurus for two reasons
Reason 1: it nicely shows just how enormous this animal got
Reason 2: it also shows how stupidly tiny its arms were
Photo by Sven Sachs ft. Joschua Knüppe
A photograph of a Dakosaurus specimen preserved in a stone slab next to paleoartist Joschua Knüppe for scale. Dakosaurus has a triangular skull and incredibly tiny arms. The hindlimbs are comparably long and the tip of the tail curved down indicating the presence of a fluke. There are no osteoderms.
October 28, 2025 at 9:42 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Here a rough scaling of the skull material, at least the two well preserved skulls. The one on the left might be a little larger still but I'll go over everything tomorrow when I have a little more time.
The two well preserved skulls of Wadisuchus compared to Steve Irwin. The larger of the two has been estimated to meassure slightly longer than 80 cm.
October 27, 2025 at 10:18 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
DAY 27 OF #Croctober IS FRESH OFF THE PRESS
Meet Wadisuchus, published literally just this morning by Sara Saber and colleagues, a new decently sized (3-4 meter roughtly) dyrosaurid from Campanian Egypt, the oldest of its family.
Art by Nathan Dehaut
Caption taken from the paper: Life reconstruction of the dyrosaurid crocodyliform Wadisuchus kassabi gen. et sp. nov. from the Late Cretaceous Quseir Formation, Egypt. The illustration depicts an adult Wadisuchus capturing a lungfish, Lavocatodus humei, in a freshwater wetland, accompanied by a juvenile in the foreground, suggesting potential parental association or overlapping habitat use across life stages. Vegetation includes lotus-like plants Nelumbites sp. and a decaying leaf of Afrocasia kahlertiana in the foreground, with background flora inspired by generalized forms resembling Ficus, Credneria, and indeterminate palms. Turtles depicted in the scene represent Khargachelys caironensis, a bothremydid pleurodire from the same formation, contributing further ecological context.
October 27, 2025 at 10:18 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Lets keep this going on Day 26 of #Croctober
Simosuchus was not the only notosuchian with complex teeth. Look no further than Pakasuchus, which straight up just mirrors mammalian dentition down to the grinding molars.
Illustrations by Smokeybjb and Zina Deretsky
A partial skull reconstruction of Pakasuchus from the snout tip to the midpoint of the eyesocket. It clearly shows the three present tooth types in different colours. The front of the jaw bears large canines, behind them are smaller premolars and behind those sets of low molars with multiple cusps. A different illustration showing the same anatomy, this time by Zina Deretsky. The illustration again shows the large canines, small premolars and multicusped molars. Arrows indicate how the jaws would have moved to allow them to grind food items.
October 26, 2025 at 8:19 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
#Croctober Day 25
Everyone loves Simosuchus. But did you ever take a closer look at its teeth? Well if you did then you'd see that they are quite complex, fitting its herbivorous diet.
They also look a bit like those of some modern iguanas (pic on the right)
An illustration of the toothrow of SImosuchus. The teeth have a constricted neck and a wider apex on each crown. Unlike conical teeth in modern crocs the crowns split into multiple cusps. The teeth in the front of the jaw are taller, but further back in the jaw you look the wider and lower each crown becomes. A photo of the teeth of a marine iguana. Like the teeth of Simosuchus they have a constricted neck and multiple cusps, tho fewer than the crocodylomorph.
October 25, 2025 at 7:01 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Day 24 of #Croctober
Among the most impressive crocs I've seen first hand is the pair of Indian gharials on exhibit in the NHM Vienna. The male measures almost 5.5 meters and has been part of the collection since the early 1900s.
A photo of the gharials on exhibit in the Vienna Natural History Museum. They are displaced in a large glass chase with a wooden frame with the individuals facing in different directions. The male is propped up on its frontlimbs while the female sits atop a ridge looking down into a pond.
October 24, 2025 at 9:10 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Today is day 23 of #Croctober
And for this purpose I want to make you mad.
This is Caririsuchus.
This specimen was taken from Brazil and sold to a private collector. It is as of right now lost to science.
A complete specimen of Caririsuchus preserved in a slab. It has an elongated crocodile-like head, short limbs, two rows of scutes down its back and a heavily armored tail.
October 23, 2025 at 9:36 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
#Croctober Day 22
Alligators are among the less diverse crocs today, only boasting two species from China and the USA respectively.
However during the Mid Pleistocene there was also Alligator munensis, a small species form from Thailand
Art by Michael Tripoli
Size comparison between Alligator munensis and Steve Irwin. Alligator munensis is much smaller than modern American alligators and much more similar to the small Chinese species. This particular comparison shows it only about 1.5 meters long Artwork of Alligator munensis by Michael Tripoli. The animal is shown somewhat from the front, the head raised and holding a crayfish in its jaws. The nose is large and bulbous, the tail curves around in the back. The teeth are prominently bulbous.
October 22, 2025 at 8:41 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Day 21 of #Croctober
While modern caimans are almost seen as a joke by some people, one doesn't have to go to the Miocene to still find impressive species.
Black caimans can surpass even American alligators in length and are capable of preying on dolphins
Video by tuenio_costa
October 21, 2025 at 4:40 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
For #Croctober Day 20 I want to shout out some fun etymology. To the left you see Paludirex, a large mekosuchine who's name means "swamp king". On the right is Gunggamarandu, which translates to "river boss".
Both have been named by Jorgo Ristevski
Art by Eleanor Pease
Artwork of Paludirex by Eleanor Pease. The animal appears as a large crocodilian with a robust and wide head. It is shown casually swimming. A branch with a cockatoo is located just above it. Artwork of Gunggamarandu by Eleanor Pease. The animal looks very similar to a modern gharial with a long and narrow snout. Ducks and giant wombats can be seen in the background.
October 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
For #Croctober Day 19 we got an extant animal, the modern African Dwarf Crocodile.
The vocal range of crocs is not widely appreciated and we still learn more about them. For example, last year a paper revealed that dwarf crocs make mooing sounds
soundcloud.com/user-4989432...
An African dwarf crocodile being weighed by a researcher in the rainforest of Gabon. The animal is small with large brown eyes and is lifted up by a rope slung around its body. The snout is closed by a piece of tape. Photograph by Mitchell Eaton
October 19, 2025 at 5:49 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
t's #Croctober Day 18 with Denazinosuchus, the last goniopholidid.
While members of this group are an iconic part of Jurassic North America and Early Cretaceous Europe, this genus is a bit of an outlier, living during the Maastrichtina in the USA
Art by Andrey Atuchin
Artwork of multiple Denazinosuchus resting on a sandy beach looking at a passing ankylosaur of the genus Akainacephalus. One is positioned in the foreground, lazily looking up at the passing dinosaur. It's coloured similar to modern false gharials with a rusty orange-red and some darker brown stripes and spots. It largely resembles modern crocodiles. Two more individuals are seen lying in the background next to a crouching pterosaur
October 18, 2025 at 8:24 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Which probably lead to one of my favorite paragraphs from any paper.
A snippet from Brochu and Storrs 2012. It reads: "Weareunawareofdirect evidence for crocodile attacks on ho minids from the Turkana Basin, such as the crocodile bite marks on hominin remains found at Olduvai Gorge (Njau and Blumen schine, in press; Brochu et al., 2010). This could mean several things—that Turkana Basin hominins evaded crocodiles; that a 2 ton crocodile did not leave bite marks on the skeleton of a 50-kg hominin (not much biting would be involved); or that we simply have not yet found hominin bones with crocodile bite marks on them. These are, of course, not mutually exclusive."
October 17, 2025 at 6:16 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
#Croctober Day 17
Remember Euthecodon from day 15?
Well the most recent fossils come from the Lake Turkana basin of Kenya, an environment it shared with the massive Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni, an animal that may have preyed on our ancestors.
Photos by Yang Deming & Nick Perry
Two skulls of Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni laid out on a table with the skull of a baboon. The baboon skull is tiny compared to those of the crocs. Paleontologist Job Kibii comparing the skull of Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni to that of a modern crocodile. The recent skull is a lot smaller and more pointed, while that of C. thorbjarnarsoni is massive and wide. Around them several shelves filled with fossils are visible
October 17, 2025 at 6:16 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Day 16 of #Croctober
For today lets all just take a moment to appreciate the treasure trove that is Miocene South America, a true hotspot of croc evolution thanks to its warm climate and expansive wetlands. Of particular note is the Urumaco Fm. of Venezuela
Art by Gabriel Ugueto
Artwork of the crocodilians of the Urumaco Formation by Gabriel Ugueto The piece features the heads of various crocodilians, roughly divided into two gorups, alligatoroids and gavialoids. The former features the enormous, robustly built Purussaurus as well as the large but flat-headed Mourasuchus alongside several small, short-snouted caimans. The gavialoid side consists of broadly similar animals mostly differing in size and the exact snout proportions. The bottom right corner is occupied by the enigmatic crocodilian Charactosuchus, which has a similarily elongated snout to the gavialoids
October 16, 2025 at 6:17 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
Day 15 of #Croctober
Despite looking deceptively like a gharial, Euthecodon was actually more closely related to today's dwarf and slender-snouted crocodiles. This genus first appeared in the Miocene and only went extinct during the Pleistocene.
Two skulls of Euthecodon laid out on a table in a museum connection. Both skulls have elongated gharial snouts but differ in having much taller skulls with a tiny skull table, a raised bump before the eyes and lacking the upturned orbital margins
October 15, 2025 at 7:59 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
I told you I'd get to poposauroids
Day 14 of #Croctober and lets just take a moment to appreciate the absolute insanity that are derived poposauroids.
Throughout the Triassic this group brought forth forms with sailed backs, proto-theropods and more
All art by Joschua Knüppe
An illustration of Arizonasaurus by Joschua Knüppe. The animal somewhat resembles Spinosaurus or Dimetrodon, with a large rounded sail on its back. The neck is relatively short, the head long and triangular. It's shown with a bipedal posture and short front limbs that dangle from the body. An illustration of Lotosaurus by Joschua Knüppe. It has a stocky adn robust body, short neck and a robust beaked head. It is shown wallowing in the mud. An illustration of Effigia by Joschua Knüppe. The animal appears similar to a featherless ornithomimosaur with longer hindlimbs, short front limbs, a long neck and a beaked snout. It is shown standing next to a nest made of folliage by a river, rearing up while a phytosaur is holding an egg in its mouth. An illustration of Benggwigwishingasuchus by Joschua Knüppe. The animal has relatively long legs, an elongated neck and a narrow, pointed snout. It is depicted standing atop the skull of a massive ichthyosaur, the skull alone longer than the entire Benggwigwishingasuchus.
October 14, 2025 at 5:39 PM
arminreindl.bsky.social
For Day 13 of #Croctober I just wanna give a quick shout out to Mambawakale from the Mid Triassic Manda Beds of Tanzania. It was originally placed in a polytomy at the base of Paracrocodylomorpha, but was recently recovered as an early poposauroid
Illustration by Gabriel Ugueto
An illustration of Mambawakale scaled to a silhouette of Steve Irwin. The animal is about as long as a large modern crocodile, but with noticably less armor, a deeper torso, a rectangular skull and much longer legs, resembling a generalized "rauisuchian"
October 13, 2025 at 6:37 PM